From the course: Exploring Photography: Shooting in Raw Mode

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Understanding when to shoot raw or JPEG or both

Understanding when to shoot raw or JPEG or both

From the course: Exploring Photography: Shooting in Raw Mode

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Understanding when to shoot raw or JPEG or both

- I pretty much shoot with my camera in raw mode all the time and I do so for three and a half reasons. First, there's white balance control. Auto white balance on a modern camera is very good, but it can go a little wrong when you get into shady areas or when the sky turns overcast. Auto white balance is definitely a problem when shooting in low light or when shooting around multiple light sources. But even when auto white balance works or when I'm being very careful about manually white balancing, I still like having the option to reliably change white balance in post production. Sometimes correct white balance isn't the best aesthetic choice for an image. With raw white balance control, I can easily make an image warmer or cooler. Second reason to shoot raw, highlight recovery. As I said before, the ability to recover highlights is not a substitute for trying to get good exposure settings while shooting, but it sure is comforting to know that the safety net of highlight recovery is…

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